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Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Television's Top 5 Musical Mistakes

Erin Miller is a good friend of the site and a big television and music fan. She contributes this guest piece as a look at the way both mediums have dovetailed, and some of the mistakes that have been made there-in.

Have you ever been driving in your car and immediately
changed the radio station after a new song began to play? Was it because it didn’t fit your current
mood? I’ve experienced instances where
the radio station’s music choice did not fit the “scene”—the song was about a
sunny day while driving in the rain, or the song was gloomy and my mood was
positive.

As in real life, the music used in scenes of TV shows can
make—or break—the mood. Music enhanced
the already beautiful storytelling and cinematography of Dr. Mark Greene’s last
scenes on ER, and the final scene of The Sopranos.

When music doesn’t work, it becomes a distraction at best
and a disservice to the story at worst.
The following is a list of my top five TV shows with mismatched music:

5. Music from entire
episode--Mad Men episode “The
Doorway”

This is an example where the lack of music in an episode
hurt the establishment of mood and times, especially in an episode where ad copywriting
for headphones is the main focus. The
episode straddles the waning days of 1967 and the beginning days of 1968. For an episode that features the years of
“The Summer of Love” and a prominent year in American history, it seems like a
missed opportunity to only feature classical music pieces and an Elvis song
pertaining to Hawaii. I could understand
the use of classical music in the Francis household scenes, as Betty’s family
represents the “Silent Majority” that actively avoids the social changes of the
1960’s. However, the use of other period
scenery, including Roger’s Jetsons-esque
office, indicates that some period music could have been used to establish mood
in this season premiere.

4. “The Bear and the
Maiden Fair” by The Hold Steady--Game of
Thrones episode “The Bear and the Maiden Fair”

In this episode, the gender bending, serious-minded Brienne
of Tarth is forced by her captives to fight a semi-tame bear. After a serious scene featuring her rescue
from the fighting pit, the episode immediately moves from somber quiet to a jarring
pop/punk version of “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” by The Hold Steady. While this song is mentioned in the TV show
and the books as a lighthearted traditional song, the pop/punk version doesn’t
match Brienne’s intense, focused personality.
It also disjoints the transition from the episode’s pinnacle scene,
depicting the brutality of captivity during anarchy, to a bright, fast-tempo
version of a traditional song. The use
of a pop/punk song in the credits is more appropriate if the final scene
features Tyrion or Olenna Redwyne delivering their usual wit.

Battlestar Galactica
does an excellent job of using mostly original instrumental music to build a
scene, with one jarring exception.
Throughout the series, dirge-like music is used in scenes of human
sorrow, building music layers that are used to depict climactic episodic scenes.Music
featuring eclectic notes and instruments are also used in scenes featuring the
mysterious Cylons.

That’s why the first lyrical and contemporary song used in
the series is very jarring, especially when it’s a cover of the classic Jimi
Hendrix song “All Along the Watchtower,” which is itself a cover of a Bob Dylan
song (…got that?). The scene features a
major character, Kara “Starbuck” Thrace, returning from an assumed death that
heavily affects her character in the subsequent final season. However, her dialogue can’t be heard over the
song’s lyrics (or the screaming in my head).

On a side note, if a contemporary song was mandatory for the
scene, this is the
song that should have been used. The
space-titled song and band name would have simultaneously pleased the sci-fi
and music nerds.

2. “Baby Blue” by
Badfinger--Breaking Bad episode
“Felina”

The final song used Breaking
Bad, Badfinger’s “Baby Blue,” is not a bad
choice. It echoes the color of Walter
White’s famous meth and how he came to love the power of the meth business in
the simple, automatic way he loves his children.

This acceptable choice could have instead been a fantastic
choice, especially since one of the best music scene placements of the series
was featured earlier in the same episode.
In the cold open, Walt realizes he must go back to the Albuquerque to
make his final stand. The song he hears
when he turns on his vehicle’s radio is the Marty Robbins version of “El
Paso.”

Like Walt, the subject of “El Paso” has his final stand in
New Mexico. Also, the female protagonist
is named Felina, which is also the title of the episode.

When an episode has a phenomenal use of music in its cold
open, you can’t help but hope the final song placement will be equally
phenomenal. That’s why the simply
adequate use of Badfinger’s “Baby Blue” doesn’t work. It isn’t out of place in the scene, but it is
a forgettable and very 1970s style song.
Leon Russell’s bright, up-tempo live cover of Bob Dylan’s “It’s
All Over Now, Baby Blue” would have been a better choice. The repeating of the phrase “It’s all over”
reinforces that the series is over, and the title and lyrics refer to sadness,
finality, and the color blue.

Also, the coda of one of the most popular American
television programs could have featured a Bob Dylan song. Ending a popular American show with a song by
one of the most influential American artists in history would have been
absolute perfection.

This episode of The Sopranos features the death of a
powerful character, which forces other characters to examine their thoughts on
death. The last two scenes transition
from the mortality themes to a baptism scene, symbolizing the continuity and
joys of the beginning of life. As the
final scene unfolds, John Cooper Clarke’s “Evidently Chickentown” begins to
play. The song features a monotone
British poet blunting stating his observations of everyday life. The theme of Italian identity in an American
culture appears throughout the series, so it seems very strange to use a song
that punctuates its British identity by using “bloody” as ever other
lyric. Using a monotone song to
transition from a scene featuring one major theme (death) to another (the
beginning of life) seems out of place as well.

The show is no stranger to funeral scenes, and in the Season
3 episode “Army of One,” one of the main characters sings a Neapolitan song
that fits perfectly with the tone of the scene.
A similar song would have fit this scene and the themes of this episode
and the series as a whole.